Before the Celtics must decide which championship-winning players to jettison from their exorbitantly expensive roster, they’ll have a chance to add a couple of rookies to that group.
Boston currently owns two of the top 32 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft: its own late in the first round (No. 28) and the second selection of the second round, which it acquired from Detroit two years ago.
The odds of landing an impact player that far down the board are slim, especially with NIL and revenue sharing now incentivizing players outside of the elite tier of prospects to stay in school. But it is possible to find value outside of the draft lottery.
Last year, the Celtics drafted Baylor Scheierman at pick No. 30, and though he didn’t crack Joe Mazzulla’s core rotation as a rookie, he showed promise late in the season and could be in line for a larger role in Year 2. NBA Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard was the 26th pick in 2020. And given Boston’s current financial situation, the team could be less reliant on established veterans in 2025-26, which could lead to additional minutes for its incoming draftees.
With the draft set to begin on June 25, here’s are five players who could make sense for the Celtics:
Walter Clayton Jr., guard, Florida
If the Celtics want to add a skilled shooter who thrives in the clutch, they could do a lot worse than Clayton, who led the Gators to a national championship and was the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
Known for his unflappability and deep bag of shot-making tricks, Clayton shot 38.6% from 3-point range as a senior while averaging 5.7 attempts per game. He was even better in the NCAA tournament, going 20-for-46 from deep (43.5%) during Florida’s six-game run to the title.
Clayton’s cons? He’s small (6-foot-2, 199 pounds with a 6-4 wingspan) and hasn’t been a high-level on-ball defender, with some scouting reports questioning his focus on that end of the floor. Similar critiques were levied against Pritchard coming into the NBA, however, and he developed into a major asset for Boston.
With starting guard Jrue Holiday viewed as one of their most likely trade candidates, the Celtics could look to bolster their backcourt depth through the draft, as a Holiday trade would leave Derrick White and Pritchard as their only proven options.
Al Horford, a fellow Florida alum, raised the possibility of a team-up with Clayton after the national championship.
“He’s just a winner,” Horford told CBS Sports’ John Fanta. “He knows how to play, and I know that I’m going to be playing against him next year in the pros, in the NBA. Maybe he’ll be with us; who knows? But I’m sure he’ll be playing in the NBA.”
Maxime Raynaud, big, Stanford
The 7-foot-1 Raynaud led the ACC in rebounds per game this past season (10.6) while also vastly expanding his perimeter game. The towering Frenchman attempted 5.5 threes per game during his final Cardinal campaign – way up from the 1.9 he averaged as a junior – and made 34.5% of them, a respectable clip for a player his size. Scouting reports also praise his ball-handling, passing, ability to finish at the rim – most of his offensive skill set, outside of his penchant for turnovers.
Like Clayton, Raynaud’s biggest concerns are defensive. He possesses ideal height and length but is, as The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie put it, “very heavy-footed.”
The frontcourt is one of the biggest unknowns on this Celtics’ roster, as Horford and Luke Kornet are impending free agents and Kristaps Porzingis, much like Holiday, ranks high on the list of Boston players who could be traded this offseason. The next man up behind that trio is Neemias Queta, who was out of the rotation for most of this season.
Adou Thiero, wing, Arkansas
If the Celtics want to beef up their wing depth with Jayson Tatum looking at a lengthy recovery following Achilles surgery and Sam Hauser on the trade block, Thiero would be an intriguing draft-night target.
Mazzulla and Brad Stevens might not be interested in a swingman with such a limited 3-point resume (28.4% on 1.0 attempt per game over two seasons at Kentucky and one at Arkansas), but Thiero offers high-end athleticism, physicality and size at 6-foot-7, 218 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan.
“Among perimeter players, Thiero was the most dominant offensive rebounder in the country,” J. Kyle Mann wrote in The Ringer’s NBA draft guide. “His vertical pop and foot speed are electric in transition. He attacks straight-line drives with a reckless abandon and doesn’t bat an eye if a bigger defender is in his way.”
Mann described Thiero as a “chaos agent with a sky-high steal percentage and an appetite for deflections,” comparing the 21-year-old to current Celtics reserve Torrey Craig. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor had a different Boston comp: ex-C’s bruiser Jae Crowder.
Noah Penda, wing, Le Mans Sarthe Basket (France)
Another wing option, Penda developed a reputation as a smart, unselfish, playmaking glue guy while starting as a 19-year-old in LNB Élite, France’s top professional league.
He’s considered a high-level defender but didn’t offer much as a scorer in his first pro season, averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting 44.0% from the field and 30.4% from three. How that aspect of his game develops likely will dictate his NBA ceiling.
“Penda’s versatility and strong feel for the game played an important role in carving out a strong role in the French first division,” ESPN’s Jonathan Givony wrote after mocking Penda to the Celtics at No. 28 this week. “He is an intelligent passer who slides all over the court on defense and plays a mature style of basketball for a 20-year-old.”
The Celtics have not used a first-round pick on a player who did not play college basketball since 2016, when they took Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, big, Creighton
Scheierman’s former collegiate running mate is viewed as a late first- or early second-round prospect, and he’d fill the Celtics’ potential need for another big body down low.
Kalkbrenner isn’t a modern 3-point shooting center (0.9 attempts per game over his Creighton career), but he’s a tremendous rim protector and at-the-rim finisher. Measuring in at 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, he led the Big East in blocks per game in each of the last three seasons and led the conference in field-goal percentage in each of the last four. The biggest knock on him is his lack of athleticism and mobility.
Mann likened him to Kornet, who abandoned his outside shot early in his Celtics tenure and just turned in the best season of his NBA career.
